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Cal's Magdalena Lewy Set To Compete In Olympic Trial Marathon

BERKELEY - California track and field assistant coach Magdalena Lewy will compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in the women's marathon Sunday, April 20, in Boston, Mass. The top three runners will make the U.S. Olympic team and compete later this summer in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Lewy, who is in her seventh season coaching at Cal, just missed qualifying in the marathon at the 2004 Olympic Trials, placing fifth with a time of two hours and 30 minutes.

'I am ready and eager to race this weekend and leave it all on the course,' Lewy said. 'It's such an honor to be a part of this special race and compete with so many accomplished women who all share the same goal.'

The Olympic Trials race will feature a specially designed course that tours historic Boston with a one-time loop that passes Boston Public Garden, Boston Common, the State House and Beacon Hill, with the starting and finishing lines at the traditional Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street. The course will feature four loops of approximately six miles each proceeding down Commonwealth Avenue, crossing the Charles River into Cambridge using the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, running east, then west along Memorial Drive. Runners then return from each of the Core Loops via Massachusetts Avenue.

Lewy earned All-America honors at Cal with a third-place finish in the 5000-meter run at the 1997 NCAA Championships with a career-best time of 16:04.86. She qualified for the 1995 NCAA meet in the 3000 and 5000, but only ran the 5000. On Cal's all-time performers list, Lewy ranks second in the 5000 (16:04.86), third in the 3000 (9:25.93) and eighth in the 1500 (4:23.34).

In 2006, she finished 10th overall and was the first American woman to finish at the Bay to Breakers 12k.